TELLER COUNTY — The Teller County Sheriff, Jason Mikesell, said his department will continue to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but they will not be doing any raids.
On Friday, Sheriff Mikesell outlined his department's immigration efforts and how he plans to address people living in the country illegally.
“If ICE is conducting an investigation in Teller County where they need our assistance, I will gladly give our deputies that assistance,” said Sheriff Mikesell.
He said when it comes to immigration, his focus is specifically on non-citizens who are committing crimes.
“If you don't end up in my jail, and you've not committed a criminal offense, and you're not under investigation for a crime, I don't care. And at this point, I don't know that ICE wants to deal with that anyways. I think they're looking at criminals. We want to deal with criminals,” said Sheriff Mikesell.
He said they will not be doing "round ups" of undocumented individuals.
“I want to make it specific and understood, because what often happens is someone says, 'Well, you're just going after those people as like, stop and ask for papers. We're going to remove children, we're going to do those things.' That's not the case,” said Sheriff Mikesell.
He said his department has recently arrested four people in Teller County who are undocumented and face criminal charges. He said three of the individuals they have arrested are from Venezuela and one is from Colombia. Three of the individuals are facing charges of forging state documents, and the other for larceny and having no car insurance.
“We are working with ICE on those same individuals, and they have taken several into custody,” said Sheriff Mikesell.
He said they are currently working with ICE to find Louis Chavez, who the sheriff said is a person of interest in a Teller County homicide case.
The Teller County Sheriff's Office has been partnering with ICE for years through a federal program called 287g. Under this program, a few Teller County deputies have received training from ICE agents and work with ICE when an undocumented person is arrested for a crime.
“When you commit a crime in our county, because of our programs and our commitment to working with ICE, we are going to locate you,” said Sheriff Mikesell.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in 2019 against Teller County for this agreement, saying it doesn't follow Colorado law. A hearing on that case is scheduled for next week.
Sheriff Mikesell said Colorado’s law is too restrictive and has worked with legislators to draft a bill this year that would reverse current Colorado law and allow for more collaboration between ICE and Colorado law enforcement agencies.
You can watch Sheriff Mikesell's press conference below:
WATCH: The Teller County Sheriff's Office held briefing on immigration
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